Ramayana is one of the ancient Indian epics, with the first work being dated by scholars to around the 3rd century BC. The story is narrated by the saint poet Valmiki and tells the tale of a North Indian Prince Rama of the city of Ayodhya, who is banished into the forest along with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana. During the exile, Sita gets kidnapped by the king Ravanan of Lanka, and Rama with the help of a Vanara (primate like forest dwellers) army rescues Sita from Lanka. The tale has parallels to the Greek Iliad, the details however differing The original set in Sanskrit consists of 24,000 verses, and there are several variations in the story narrated in South Asian and South East Asian cultures, across India, Thailand and Indonesia, with several versions re-written in various Asia